History

Anything to do with History

Zetta @Zetta - 6 months ago

Ireland and Palestine: United by Partition?

The conflict in Israel and Palestine raises strong feelings across the world, but particularly in Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is among the most pro-Palestinian countries in Europe. In Northern Ireland, Israeli flags can be seen in unionist or loyalist neighbourhoods,...continued

8 minutes read

Kristina @Kristina - 9 months ago

Reforming England’s Divorce Law | History Today

On 6 April the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 that removed all fault from divorce in England and Wales will have been operational for two years. Critics have argued that it was enacted without principle or forethought, reducing marriage to the status of ‘a t...continued

8 minutes read

Alexzander @Alexzander - 9 months ago

What Do We Get Wrong About the Byzantine Empire?

‘The “Byzantines” were no less Roman than Caesar or Hadrian’Anthony Kaldellis is author of The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium (Oxford University Press, 2024)The first thing we get wrong is that we use made-up terms. ‘Byzantium’ and ‘the Byzantines’ were invented...continued

8 minutes read

Jarod @Jarod - over 4 years ago

The Field of Cloth of Gold

Shortly after 5pm on the afternoon of Thursday 7 June 1520, Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the first time. Surrounded by an entourage of knights, gentlemen and troops, they greeted each other on horseback in a shallow vale between the town of Guînes...continued

1 minute read

Marjory @Marjory - 3 months ago

King John’s Lost Treasure | History Today

In October 1216 King John met with disaster in the Wash. Ever since the sealing of Magna Carta, a little over a year before, he had been plotting how best to avenge himself on the barons who had wrested it from him – and, soon enough, England had been plunged into civil w...continued

9 minutes read

Wilmer @Wilmer - 6 months ago

What Use is Prehistory to the Historian?

‘The distinction between history and prehistory has been dissolving for some time’Jim Secord is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of CambridgeIn Christian Europe, until the beginning of the 19th century, the key marker in the early ...continued

8 minutes read

Ryleigh @Ryleigh - 7 months ago

Was Portugal’s Carnation Revolution Inevitable?

‘The Estado Novo was in a cul-de-sac of its own making’Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses is Professor of History at Maynooth UniversityThe answer to this question depends on what we mean by ‘Carnation Revolution’. If it is the Portuguese army’s coup on 25 April 1974, designed to ...continued

8 minutes read

Rahsaan @Rahsaan - 7 months ago

Columbine 25 Years On | History Today

Perhaps the most important thing to know about the most infamous school shooting in US history is that it was never meant to be a school shooting. That it is remembered primarily in this way – that the word ‘Columbine’ has become a shorthand for angry young men brandishin...continued

8 minutes read

Teagan @Teagan - 10 months ago

How ASEAN Lost its Way

Southeast Asia is a sprawling region spread out between the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific to the east, China to the north and Australia to the south. It is home to 675 million people and to the world’s busiest shipping lane. Nearly 100,000 vessels pass yearly t...continued

8 minutes read

Angus @Angus - 10 months ago

How French Was Medieval England?

‘France might have subsumed England entirely’Justine Firnhaber-Baker is Professor of History at the University of St AndrewsThe medieval history of England and France was a close – if complicated – one, especially for elites. England’s royalty and nobility were deeply ent...continued

8 minutes read

Teagan @Teagan - about 1 month ago

How Did the First World War Change the Arts?

‘What the war released above all was a spirit of ephemerality’Mark Polizzotti is Head of Publications at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of Why Surrealism Matters (2024)The First World War and its aftermath are often paired with the rise of modernism, that moral...continued

8 minutes read

Rose @Rose - 23 days ago

Is it Possible to Forgive and Forget?

‘Forgetting need not mean condemning the past to eternal oblivion’Omar G. Encarnación is Charles Flint Kellogg Professor of Politics at Bard College and author of Democracy Without Justice in Spain: The Politics of Forgetting (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014)Reckon...continued

8 minutes read

Grayce @Grayce - 12 months ago

How the British Council Made a Soft Power Superpower

In 2021, the government’s Integrated Review – published with the title ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’ – described the UK as a ‘soft power superpower’. The review justified this assessment by singling out the UK’s strengths in the arts and sciences, as well as the B...continued

8 minutes read

Monserrat @Monserrat - over 4 years ago

Thebes: The Forgotten City | History Today

There are reasons for this oblivion, not all of them bad, and far more powerful reasons for rescuing the city from the condescension – or worse – of posterity. The first and most obvious reason for the neglect of Thebes is the existence of the Egyptian city of the same n...continued

1 minute read

Izaiah @Izaiah - almost 4 years ago

A Historic Turning Point in Arab-Israeli Relations?

‘The Abraham Accords represent a shift in the policies of the Arab despots’Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (Penguin, 2014)In the second half of 2020 four Arab stat...continued

8 minutes read

Kari @Kari - 7 months ago

When Did Britain’s Age of Deference End – and Why?

‘We need to ask how much deference there actually was’Linda Colley is Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton UniversityI have my own tale of deference. My great-aunt May, the daughter of a train driver, was once proposed to by a member of the Herefordshi...continued

8 minutes read

Elaina @Elaina - almost 3 years ago

Has Literature Ever Changed the Course of History?

‘The rare literary works that might have participated in historical change are not necessarily of the first order’John Mullan, Lord Northcliffe Chair of Modern English Literature at University College LondonBooks have changed the course of history, but has literature? We ...continued

8 minutes read

Garnet @Garnet - over 3 years ago

On the Road Again | History Today

There is growing opinion that, in the global car industry, now facing a period of extraordinary change, history will repeat itself. The electric revolution appears poised on the brink of transforming the world of mobility. Yet, while companies such as Elon Musk’s US-based...continued

8 minutes read

Alexander @Alexander - over 3 years ago

Uncomfortable History | History Today

During the Asia Pacific War (1931-45), tens of thousands of women and girls in countries occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army were forced into sexual slavery as ‘comfort women’. Japan was compelled to confront this aspect of its history in the early 1990s, when survivor...continued

8 minutes read

Sandrine @Sandrine - over 3 years ago

Is Caribbean History the Key to Understanding the Modern World?

‘The Caribbean became a focal point of rivalries among Europeans, a location where imperial contests were fought’Carla Gardina Pestana, Author of The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire (Belknap Harvard, 2017).The Caribbean ushered in the modern ...continued

8 minutes read

Myles @Myles - almost 3 years ago

The Strange Death of Liberal Egypt

Colonel Nasser (left) and General Naguib at a press conference, 1953 © Hulton Getty Images.Ask Egyptians today about national independence and they will generally assume you are referring to the coup, or ‘revolution’, of 23 July 1952, which saw the ousting of King Farouk ...continued

1 minute read

Wilmer @Wilmer - 12 months ago

How Did Christianity Change the Roman Empire?

‘Christianity brought much greater intolerance’Peter Sarris is Professor of Late Antique, Medieval and Byzantine Studies at Trinity College, Cambridge and author of Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (Basic Books, 2023)Over the course of the fifth century, the Western Rom...continued

8 minutes read

Hank @Hank - over 2 years ago

What was the Legacy of the Watergate Scandal?

‘“Watergate” has been synonymous with criminal wrongdoing’Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor in American Politics at De Montfort UniversityFor the past half century, the term ‘Watergate’ has been synonymous with criminal wrongdoing at the highest level of government....continued

8 minutes read

Iva @Iva - over 3 years ago

The Pandemic and History | History Today

‘The last year has underlined the interconnected nature of events’Alex von Tunzelmann, Author of Blood and Sand: Suez, Hungary and the Crisis that Shook the World (Simon & Schuster, 2016)Strictly, the answer to this question is no: the facts of this pandemic and the r...continued

8 minutes read

Nelson @Nelson - over 2 years ago

The Hogen Mogen Princess | History Today

Queen Henrietta Maria of England, by Anthony van Dyck, 1636. incamerastock/Alamy.In June 1643 reports spread of Henrietta Maria’s advance south from Yorkshire. She was, parliamentarians observed fearfully, ‘chief and commander’ of ‘an army of outlandish papists’ and ready...continued

1 minute read